How do you do it?
The key to high quality movement is gaining a knowledge of the mechanics of relaxation and how these mechanisms can be employed in order to power breathing and movement, as well as sustain posture. Relaxing and letting gravity do the work is not a new idea, but is often badly implemented and can create new problems as quickly as it supposedly eradicates others. This muddies the waters and makes it difficult for firm conclusions to be drawn as to the effectiveness of the principle.
In order for relaxation to be embedded into consciously controlled functions and actions, a comprehensive understanding of how to create unbroken chains of force and momentum is required. There is a consistent logic that must be followed, which revolves around coordinated and properly sequenced motions in the joints.
The main challenge, however, is to reverse one's thinking about how movement is done in the first place. This is actually not as hard as it seems, because every human being applied E2 techniques instinctively when they were a young child. The reason why the E2 processes work so well is probably because they are reactivating/reinforcing dormant or suppressed neuromuscular programmes that are wired into every human being and are usually carried out entirely subconsciously. These programmes reside in neural circuits called Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) that create alternating rythmical patterns of flexion and extension to drive motor functions such as walking, breathing, chewing etc.
Under the overall direction of the cerebellum and carried out subconsciously, the CPG is instrumental in enabling a toddler to manage the considerable feats of coordination and control required to walk in a perfectly upright posture with scarcely any muscular strength. Our hypothesis is that the Wiggle Walking (aka Regenerative Walking) technique helps the locomotive CPG to function in a more uninhibited way and with more efficacy, as it once did during the formative stages of walking. It is no coincidence that the E2 walking technique makes use of exactly the same mechanisms that a confident toddler employs to move around, which is in stark contrast to how adults power their movements.
The table below compares the two approaches to movement:
E2's research into natural movement suggests that the toddler instinctively employs three fundamental techniques, which are common to all natural locomotion:
1. Relaxed Weight Bearing
2. Active Joint Motions
3. Controlled Weight Transfer
These techniques are a common thread running through the E2 material and form the basis of the approach. More information is available in the Research & Development section of this website.